As industry moves from paper drawing definition of products to computer model definition, the need to represent engineering intent associated to the product components is critical for the users of the product information. This information has traditionally been placed on the face of the drawing as specific information callouts (e.g. dimensions, tolerances, notes, etc.). These engineering requirements need to be associated and available with the design model and related appropriately to the product. Users of the engineering definition need to have access to this engineering intent information independently from the physical models. For example, engineering intent information such as surface finish requires specific process planning for manufacturing, and specific instructions for quality inspection. An explicit callout of these engineering intent requirements provides this independent access and configuration control.
For example, FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a set of engineering intent requirements for a product 100 in accordance with the prior art. Explicit callouts for various engineering intent requirements are shown in FIG. 1, including a hole class specification 102, a dimensional callout 104, one or more surface finish specifications 106, one or more manufacturing operation callouts 108, and a material specification 110. Of course, a variety of alternate engineering intent requirements may be conceived.
Although desirable results have been achieved using the prior art method of expressing engineering intent requirements, in the modern day practice of electronic design and modeling of products, there is room for improvement. Specifically, the prior art method of providing explicit callouts on engineering drawings may be inefficient, unwieldy, and impractical as product definition moves away from engineering drawings toward product modeling in an electronic environment.